Author's note:

This is my English translation of the story I had written in Hungarian, my mother tongue. Special thanks to Hero Beater and Fluffy Pillow for helping me every step of the way.

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR KAIBA

Kaiba soon paid for their purchases and they left the second-hand clothes store, leaving the still smiling Téa behind to browse for skirts. Mokuba volunteered to carry their huge shopping bag, having gotten so used to lugging his Nii-sama's briefcase all the time, and all in all, both brothers were satisfied that they had made such good progress by early afternoon. All they had to do now was return to the motel so Kaiba could change into his suit, and it fit him like a glove. One could tell it was old, and Kaiba felt it would have been beneath him to wear it in his own world, but it suited his purposes just fine, and that was all that mattered.

"Not bad, Nii-sama," said Mokuba.

"It's perfect, Mokuba. I'm going to blow them away. I can't wait to see Pegasus's face when he learns what my duel disk is capable of."

"Too bad you can't take a single card with you. If Seto had even one…"

"I know," said Kaiba, tilting his head forward aggressively. "But I'd rather go empty-handed than hold a demonstration using a worthless card. This center is bound to have a card library available, and besides, it doesn't matter because I'm perfectly prepared to squeeze Pegasus dry until I get what I want."

Mokuba looked at him alarmed, as though he had a bad premonition. Kaiba, however, felt nothing of the sort. Much like a blood-thirsty hunting dog smelling fresh prey, all he could think of was the upcoming challenge. He gave a haughty glance at the mirror as he put on his duel disk; one could tell he was going into battle and 'losing' was not in his vocabulary, and as Mokuba watched him, he finally realized what his Nii-sama had forgotten…

"I'm ready, Mokuba: it's time to go out there and show what I'm capable of. By the time I'm through with Pegasus, he won't know what hit him…" said Kaiba, his teeth bared. He didn't even look at his little brother anymore as he picked up Seto's binder, but headed straight for the door. He didn't want to waste time, driven by a single thought: that he had to win, at all costs.

"Wait, Seto!" Mokuba cried after him, sitting up quickly on his bed.

"What is it?" asked Kaiba, almost grudgingly.

"Please sit down for a minute."

"I have to go, Mokuba."

"Just one minute, Seto," pleaded Mokuba quietly, motioning to the bed next to his. Kaiba quirked an eyebrow, his shoulders tensing, but he walked back and sat down facing with his little brother. He stared at his little brother, his eyes unnervingly piercing, but Mokuba met his glare and forced himself to be calm, know his next task was nothing short of painful.

"You're not ready yet. There's one last detail you've forgotten about," he explained.

"Enlighten me," came the rather cool reply.

"Your behavior, and that could make all the difference, Seto. You have to hold back."

"Mokuba, I'm a businessman, and businessmen can't afford to be soft!"

"You are not a businessman!" retorted Mokuba. "In this world, you are a poor, miserable seventeen-year-old orphan! You lived in an orphanage for seven years because nobody wanted us, and winning that scholarship didn't really make a difference because you still have nothing in the world, and now you're going to Pegasus in a cheap suit because you can't afford decent clothes, and you're taking a hand-written draft because you designed a duel disk for a card game that you couldn't even buy a single card for. You shouldn't even have a prototype: where would you have gotten that kind of money, Seto? Nobody gives grants for poor high school students, and even if they did, Pegasus still wouldn't have even heard of you because nobody besides your little brother even cares that you exist!"

At first, Kaiba listened with his lips tightly pursed, trying to swallow his brother's words, but the longer Mokuba went on, the paler he turned, and by the time his little brother finished, all the color had drained from Kaiba's face. His jaws clenched as he glared into space; it only took Mokuba one look at him to know he had cut him deep.

"It's the truth, Seto," he continued, deliberately resisting the urge to him Nii-sama. "While you are wearing this hand-me-down suit, you're a nobody, and nobodies can't afford to be cocky, so be a man and behave like a saint, because you're playing with the lives of two other people."

Kaiba lowered his head. His eyes were hard and Mokuba was almost scared of him, but he pressed on, knowing he was very close now.

"Look at me, Seto."

Kaiba slowly lifted his eyes to him, cold with powerless anger.

"If you can't behave, then don't go at all."

Kaiba swallowed. His mouth ran dry.

"I can behave."

"What did you say?"

"I said I can behave!"

"Really? I haven't noticed," replied Mokuba, his tone full of bile, glaring at his brother with such determination that, just this once, he managed to defeat him. Kaiba lowered his head like a fierce animal that had been whipped into submission, the lashes his little brother's words.

"Alright, Mokuba," he said quietly. "I'll behave."

"You're not going to shout?"

"I'm not going to shout."

"Make threats?"

"No."

"Be a smart-ass?"

"I won't."

By the time he said it, his will to fight had left him. His eyes were dull. Mokuba's heart was still pounding wildly, thoroughly ashamed of himself for speaking that way to Nii-sama, Nii-sama, but he just couldn't get that small, bare dorm room and those handmade cards out of his mind. He imagined a poor, sad, tired Nii-sama and a kind-hearted Mokuba struggling in vain, and all he could think of was these two brothers as he abused the power that he alone possessed and subdued his beloved older brother, who would have never endured this much pain and suffering from anyone but him.

"Then go," he said quietly, squeezing his older brother's hand in goodbye. "Good luck."